Yesterday, at the 29.08.2023 the political prisoner Thomas Meyer Falk was released after over 26 years of captivity. A long time of this he was inprisoned at so called “preventive detention” which is based on a law, which was introduced by the German fascists.

For all the long time, he wasn´t inprisoned for rape or murder somebody or make any crime against the people. The reason for the long detention was, that he take up the struggle against oppression and exploitation and that, despite the prison, he was steadfast and stand strong to his convictions.

In 1996, Thomas robbed a bank to raise funds for legal and illegal leftist projects and structures. But the bank robbery went wrong, and as a result, hostages were taken. In the end, no one was seriously injured or killed, but Thomas was arrested as a result of the action and brought before the court. The court then sentenced him to 16 years and nine months in prison. By comparison, the average sentence for a bank robbery in the FRG is between three and five years, according to §250 StGB. The reason that Thomas was sentenced to such a long sentence is that he, as a political convicted "criminal", did not commit this robbery in order to enrich himself personally, but in order to provide funds for resistant political work. A clear reason for the ruling class to let their class justice strike and to make an example to intimidate others.

However, although this very harsh sentence was imposed, it did not remain with the almost 17 years of imprisonment. As already written above, Thomas was released only yesterday and has thus spent ten years longer in captivity. The legal basis that made this possible was the paragraph $66 StGB, which allows the so-called "security detention". This law was originally introduced in 1933 by the German fascists and allowed them to imprison political opponents forever. With paragraph §66, the German state can imprison people without a time limit for as long as it deems necessary. The only "basis" it needs for this is the suspicion that the person might commit a crime again. Obviously, this is primarily intended to target offenders of political persuasion, because anyone who commits a crime for political reasons and does not renounce their convictions could be hit by this law.

Thomas was one such political prisoner who was hit by §66. Since 2013, Thomas has continued to be held in preventive detention, despite the expiration of his sentence, because he refused to distance himself from his political views. Because he had spent ten years in preventive detention this year, a new expert opinion was needed to decide whether it was justified to keep him locked up or not. Two psychological reports came to the conclusion that nothing should stand in the way of Thomas' release. Nevertheless, the public prosecutor's office tried again and again to put obstacles in the way and to drag out this process. Obviously the public prosecutor's office had to admit defeat now, however, because as the progressive left website political prisoners network writes. Thomas was released from prison yesterday morning. This marks the end of more than 26 years that he has spent as a political prisoner in various jails in the FRG.

In all the years of imprisonment, Thomas did not allow himself to be intimidated, despite the terror that the German "Gesinnungsjustiz" used against him, and remained steadfast. Although he was offered several times that he could be released if he distanced himself from his crime and his political convictions, he did not accept these poisoned offers and remained true to his principles. Although he had to pay a high price, he never lost his determination. But Thomas is not only an example of courage and steadfastness as a political prisoner, he also shows us very well through his activities that it is possible to continue the political struggle even in prison. He not only resisted through his stance, but also wrote articles for the leftist media platform "Prisoner Info", and was active as an editor for the local progresive news medium "Radio Dreyeckland", which is currently affected by repression, and also tried, as far as this was possible for him under his conditions, to stand up with his fellow prisoners against the inhumane prison conditions. Thomas's fight clearly shows that the political struggle does not end in prison!